This invention relates generally to baffle type scrubbers and more particularly to baffle type scrubbers for adsorbing sulfur dioxide gas streams.
Baffle type scrubbers have been available for contacting a gas stream with a cleaning liquid so that the cleaning liquid removes material from the gas stream such as sulfur dioxide. One type of prior art baffle scrubber uses a series of baffles positioned in a gas chamber through which a gas stream passes with the baffles arranged so that they alternately project into the gas chamber from opposite directions at longitudinally spaced apart positions along the gas chamber with their inner edges overlapping. These baffles cause the gas stream to be successively deflected back and forth across the gas chamber as the gas stream moves longitudinally of the gas chamber while the cleaning liquid is sprayed between the baffles to mix with the gas stream being deflected by these baffles. U.S. Pat. No. 4,168,958 shows this type scrubber construction oriented along a vertical axis. The prior art also shows this type scrubber configuration oriented along a horizontal axis.
One of the problems associated with this type of construction is that the gas stream is deflected back and forth within the chamber without rotating about the central axis of the chamber. This makes uniform contact between the cleaning liquid and the gas stream difficult to achieve. Also, when the scrubber is horizontally oriented, the liquid is sprayed into the gas chamber from one direction. Because the gas stream is not rotated about the central axis of the gas stream, the upper portion of the gas stream is subjected to the cleaning liquid while it has a greater capability of removing material from the gas stream thereby causing the lower portion of the gas stream to have less of the desired material removed therefrom than the upper portion. The pressure drop across each of these baffles is relatively high, thereby typically requiring excessive power consumption to force the gas stream through the gas chamber to operate the scrubbing device.